This occurs, and probably is related to, the CAC card reader. Essentially I can unlock the panes and use the "Startup Disk" pane if I do not close system preferences after opening it.

Exostar Enhances DoD CAC Card Authentication Managed Access Gateway (MAG) solution now includes on-boarding and authentication workflow intelligence February 9, 2011 2 Min Read ...

Previously, they needed a computer with a Common Access Card, or CAC, to find resources on the Army Training Network, or ATN. The Army recently began allowing users to access ATN with a username ...